10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Any day of birding in New York State that includes a sighting of a Vesper Sparrow is a better-then-average day. The precipitous plunge of Vesper Sparrow populations has been largely because of changing land use practices. What has caused the decline? They really stick out when you see them with other little brown jobs.

Sparrows 165

Sparrows North Dakota United States Downers 165

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2019

I’m hardly the first person to observe that it’s all too easy to get overwhelmed by bad environmental news, and the title Endangered and Disappearing Birds of the Midwest sounds like a pretty major downer. Endangered and Disappearing Birds of the Midwest by Matt Williams – Indiana University Press, $29.00.

Indiana 131

Indiana Downers Iowa Illinois 131

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2014

On Saturday I awakened at 3:30 AM, tiptoed out of the house as quietly as I could, and headed north and west to Sullivan County, the first of three counties I planned to visit in a series of surgical birding strikes to see (or hear) the birds I had thus far missed this year as they migrated through New York City.

Breeding 153

Breeding New York Breeders Downers 153

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2012

Nothing is quite as much of a downer to a birder than the summer doldrums. Uncomfortable weather and a lack of birds make birders grumpy. What can a bird blogger do but try to write his way out of the summer doldrums? How can you bird for a day in the summer? What other birds can you find in summer’s dog days?

Downers 164

Downers Kangaroos Breeders Canada 164

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

A lot of folks, including this very blog, are using this as an occasion to memorialize not just the Passenger Pigeon but the extinct birds of the Holocene as a group. In 1952, at least in the US, no one wanted to be a Debbie Downer. we are hosting Extinction Week here on 10,000 Birds from 7 September to 13 September.

California Condor 203

California Condor United States Guam Whales 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2011

As you read this, I am riding my trusty Grizzly Bear through the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park, helping my colleague Seagull Steve find some new birds. Birding by bear is by far the best way to view the park, although it seems to terrify the hoofed animals. Birds do remarkable things every day, as a matter of their nature.

Grizzly Bear 170

Grizzly Bear North Dakota Downers Bears 170